Putin Fires Defense Minister Linked to Real Estate Investigation (original) (raw)

Europe|Putin Ousts Defense Chief, Longtime Ally

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/07/world/europe/putin-dismisses-russian-defense-minister.html

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Putin Ousts Defense Chief, Longtime Ally

President Vladimir V. Putin with Anatoly Serdyukov. The reason for Mr. Serdyukov’s firing is unclear.Credit...Alexander Zemlianichenko/Associated Press

Nov. 6, 2012

MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia fired his powerful defense minister on Tuesday after the police raided the property of a real estate company involved in the privatization of valuable ministry land near Moscow.

The firing of Anatoly E. Serdyukov, a longtime Putin ally, is one of the highest-level dismissals tied to a corruption case in recent memory in Russia. It was also a rare move by Mr. Putin, who has been reluctant to dismiss members of his inner circle.

Mr. Putin appointed another longtime political ally, Sergei K. Shoigu, the former minister of emergency situations, as the country’s new defense minister.

Dmitri S. Peskov, Mr. Putin’s spokesman, said the firing was necessary to allow the police to continue their investigation of wrongdoing in the Defense Ministry, which he said would not be possible if Mr. Serdyukov remained. Even as Mr. Putin forced Mr. Serdyukov out, he praised the minister’s past work.

Many ministers in the Russian government have secondary roles in business and extensive property and wealth that is typically tolerated unless they fall from favor for another reason, analysts of Russian politics say.

“In Russia, where what matters first and foremost are informal deals and relations, we should be looking for some kind of intrigue behind this all, some kind of a clash of very important interests,” Maria Lipman, a researcher at the Carnegie Moscow Center, said in an interview.

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